Peter Weiss
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Peter Weiss (November 8 1916 - May 10 1982) was a German writer, painter and artist. He was born in Neubabelsberg nearBerlin and passed away in Stockholm, Sweden.
Weiss' most well known work is the play Marat/Sade (1963). It studies the power in society through two extreme and extremely different historical persons, Jean-Paul Marat, a brutal hero of the French Revolution, and the Marquis de Sade, for whom sadism was named. The play is considered a classic, and is still performed, although less regularly.
Weiss also wrote prose. His work consists of short and intense novels with Kafkaesque details and feelings, often with autobiographical background.
- Från ö till ö (1944) (German: Von Insel zu Insel)(From Island to Island)
- De besegrade (1948) (German: Die Besiegten) (The Defeated)
- Der Vogelfreie (1948) (published as Dokument I in Swedish (1949) and in German as Der Fremde (The Foreigner) under the pseudonym Sinclair (1980))
- Duellen (1951) (German: Das Duell)(The Duel)
- Der Schatten des Körpers des Kutschers (1952) (The Shadow of the Coachman's Body)
- Abschied von den Eltern (1960) (Leavetaking)
- Fluchtpunkt (1961) (Vanishing Point)
- Das Gespräch der drei Gehenden (1962) (The Conversation of the Three Walkers)
- Die Ästhetik des Widerstands (I-1975, II-1978, III-1981) (The Aesthetics of Resistance, Vol. I)
Weiss also directed some experimental films.